"End to End via the Margins" -the diary of a
walk.
- Manchester to Grains Bar

Diary

After a noisy, uncomfortable and restless night at Manchester's Youth
Hostel (for which the YHA is not to blame), I set off early in the direction
of the hills beyond Oldham. Deansgate, while not totally deserted, was
quieter than I'd ever seen it before, and felt completely different from its
usual self. Just off Deansgate is the memorial to Manchester working people's
sacrificial stand with Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionists against slavery.
It was sacrificial because their livelihoods depended on the cotton trade.

I walked past flats, houses in red brick, huge industrial scale public
buildings a century old, many of them churches and many in disrepair, and
textile mills, more as I approached Oldham. These are the mills to which many
Bangladeshi people, most with experience in the trade, were attracted some
years ago. Since then, most mills have stopped working in the textile
business, and people are not well off. Far behind me, as I climbed the hill
into Oldham, another world was visible, the Cheshire Plain and Jodrell
Bank.

On the far side of Oldham, in an ordinary looking community on the main
road, was a house splashed with white. Someone had painted NF on the wall,
with the downstrokes joined, and had got as far as NIGG.. before they dropped
the can on the pavement.

Janet and Hannah picked me up a mile from my destination, took me to a
family baptism, and returned me to the road. Slightly bizarre, but very
welcome. That's the end of them until next weekend. No more bag carrying. I'm
going to miss them. I think they work harder than I do on this jaunt.

As I walk this road, a massive cross is clearly visible on top of Besom
Hill. I'm glad. It's a bit more than just the "badge" of Christianity. We may
take our place along with the other faiths, but the cross is what we're
about. We're not going to force anybody to be like us. We won't use our
power. The cross teaches us the opposite, for the Romans were the power.

There have been a number of people on the streets these last two Manchester
days, many of them young men, and most of them look hard and I'm a bit wary.
But appearances can be deceptive.

On top of the airy hill near where I'm staying is Bishop's Park Pitch and
Putt. More like "Bishop's Park Pitch and oops my ball's just blown into
Yorkshire".

Pictures from today...none

PrayerLiving
God,we pray for fair and harmonious relationsbetween the races in our
ountry,and between faiths.Teach us how to be true to youand fair
to all.And where people are hurt, insulted and killedbecause of their
race,we ask for healing and justice.